


away, away

by nausicaa_of_phaeacia



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Emotional Baggage, F/M, Post-Framework, Road Trip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-04
Updated: 2017-05-04
Packaged: 2018-10-27 20:25:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10816080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nausicaa_of_phaeacia/pseuds/nausicaa_of_phaeacia
Summary: The pain of the first few weeks has faded a little, but the headquarters feel like they have all been buried under a thick blanket, everyone has grown more grey, more quiet. So one afternoon, she decides to hand in a request for vacation, bag already packed.





	away, away

**Author's Note:**

> I'm still sad about the episode, even though I've seen only a few scenes (like I did with all the recent episodes). I'm really hoping for some improvement, I guess. Maybe I should still be thankful, I don't know. Anyways, I think whatever happens, there will be a lot of sadness in store for our favs either way.  
> Hope you like this. I needed them to breathe.

It‘s been more than four months already (hundred and twenty-nine days, okay), and while things have regained a certain balance (or at least, everyone is pretending that they have), Daisy still feels like she’s walking around with an unhealed wound, like the touch of a fingertip could make anything break open again. She knows she isn’t the only one, but to be honest, she doesn’t dare to ask anyone about their thoughts and nightmares anymore. For one, they are usually to be found written on their faces, and secondly, she’s too scared to make things worse (she figures they would probably tell her if they needed anything, hopefully). Daisy isn’t alone in this, but the team have closed off their personal lives from the others, for the most part.

The pain of the first few weeks has faded a little, but the headquarters feel like they have all been buried under a thick blanket, everyone has grown more grey, more quiet. So one afternoon, she decides to hand in a request for vacation, bag already packed. Coulson doesn’t hesitate to sign it right away, and she almost wants to apologize for leaving, especially for leaving him here, sitting in his office, when he suddenly says (she’s not sure if she’s misheard), "Can I come?"  
It’s absurd, really, and then again, it’s not at all, and Coulson looks like he’s afraid she might be offended, but she isn’t, not in the slightest. She doesn’t need to give it any thought, if she’s being honest. "Okay," she says, quietly. "Pack your bags. But then we’re taking Lola."  
He nods, obviously very pleased. Like it doesn’t mean a pile of paperwork he needs to work through immediately, in this case. "Meet you in the hangar in two hours?," she suggests.  
"In one."

***

They are both very light travellers. When Daisy walks up to Lola, she’s surprised to see Coulson has only brought a large backpack, just like her. It earns him a tiny smile, and he thinks that’s enough, he thinks that’s exactly what he needed. They almost wordlessly put everything into Lola’s trunk, exchange one look before getting in, then just drive. They haven’t discussed any direction, but Coulson simply starts driving towards the open landscape, towards the hills, the forest. After a few hours, they stop, walk a little, lose their thoughts in the view. Without a word, Daisy switches to the driver’s seat, and they continue to drive away, just away.

It’s already gotten dark when they approach a roadside motel. It doesn’t look too great, but not too shabby either, and Coulson insists on paying for their rooms. In turn, she goes to collect some food for dinner from the nearby gas station. Sandwiches. Daisy invites him over to her room to eat, since her nightstand is bigger and everything. It’s definitely noticeable that they’re hardly talking, but oddly enough, she’s still comfortable. He knows to trust her, knows that she would talk to him if she wanted to, and if he’s being honest, he’s unusually fine with not talking at the moment. The taste of, the weight of what has happened is still too present, and he’s really just thankful for her company.

***

They have coffee and bagels in the car, and it’s one of those mornings where the sun hasn’t reached the valley yet, when you know it’s there but you’re still sitting in cold fog, but that’s okay because that’s how you know you’re really awake. Lola’s hood was covered in dew when they left the motel. This day also passes quietly, with Daisy absent-mindedly making mental notes of which places they’ve passed. They briefly stop for lunch break, and Daisy opens a can of sardines and crispbread, and Coulson proudly offers a lemon and some pepper from his backpack, and it’s great, actually. They’ve stopped on some sort of plateau, and she can’t deny that the view, this huge valley with the mountains in the background, separated by a long road, is breathtaking.  
"Thank you," she says, and maybe that’s what encourages him to silently offer half of his woolen blanket in the evening, when they have parked in a parking lot, sleeping in Lola because it’s pouring too heavily for them to pitch Daisy’s tent.

Daisy’s neck is a little stiff in the morning, and it’s gotten pretty cold in the car (the tip of her nose feels frozen), but that means that the sun is going to rise really soon. She looks over at Coulson, and he’s still sleeping, his head rested against the window, and it hurts a little to know that she hasn’t seen him this free from worry in quite some time. Then she hears him swallow and knows he’s going to wake up soon, closes her eyes just in time to not be found out, to be able to be the second person to open her eyes. He greets her with a smile, and it’s impossible not to return it.

***

It doesn’t rain the next day, and they make a stop on a large meadow, a little higher up. Coulson proudly spreads out a picnic blanket so they don’t get wet or cold sitting on the ground, and Daisy manages to surprise him in turn by frying some eggs in a small pan, over a little camping stove, and it stuns her how much that makes him smile. It makes her regret not having surprised Coulson with breakfast earlier. 

They leave Lola at the edge of the forest, take a long walk around the hill, and it feels like something important is happening as they feel their own silence mirrored by their surroundings, like something inside them is finally being answered, and Daisy keeps reprimanding herself for thinking about this so intensely, but she really thinks that this is what they needed, some sort of silent company, and to be understood without explanation, to not be questioned in one’s way of processing past events. It’s not entirely new, but it’s still surprising how long it took her to see how much she needed this (this being exactly nothing, being a spontaneous trip without destination, being conversations with Coulson that consist of wordless companionship).

As they walk back down the steep hill, sidestepping daisies and buttercups, their legs flexible like the knees of a toddler, their feet constantly working on balancing the speed of their steps, he suddenly takes her hand, and she knows it just happened because she almost tripped over a large stone, but she doesn’t free her fingers from his even afterwards, and it might be that he doesn’t dare to let go, but this, it feels safe. She doesn’t let go until it becomes necessary as they’re getting back into Lola. 

Before they drive away, Coulson looks at her, and their eyes meet, and she holds his gaze for a seemingly very long while, and it both makes her want to cry and to kiss him. Neither happens, but this look which is gradually replacing the hollow in her chest eventually feels like some sort of an advance notice, and she brightly smiles at him in anticipation.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! <3


End file.
